I would like to thank
electrum for crawling through the beta mire to help me with this
story. She pulled me out of "Tense" hell on more than one
occasion and delivered a wreath of late-blooming participial phrases
and gerunds. I treasure that wreath.

All mistakes are my
own.

This story takes place
between LWW and PC, book and movie verse.

NO
SLASH WHAT SO EVER only family tenderness

Disclaimer:
I was poor yesterday, today and probably will be tomorrow. So please
don't sue because the works of C.S. Lewis belongs to him and any
affiliate that makes that claim.

Chapter One: Darkness

Why does Peter have to
be such an imbecile!? He's High king of Narnia, Sir Peter
Wolf's-Bane, Emperor of the Lone Islands, Lord of Cair Paravel…
You'd think a twenty-nine year old would know how to conduct
himself, even if he is trapped in a younger body away from Home.

He's not a King
without a kingdom; he knows eventually we'll go back. Besides
we're here, ready, even now to follow him wherever he leads
without a moment's hesitation. Of course, we're in England.
Where would we go? But our loyalty to our brother the High King goes
beyond question. Like I mentioned before, wherever he leads, we'll
follow.

I know he desires to go
back, so do we all. But his attitude lately has been beastly towards
anyone who crosses his path, even Lucy. That was an unthinkable act
and he suffered my wrath for it.

Susan, never one for
conflict, not even in Narnia, tries to avoid him at all cost. Well,
there is one conflict, a bother really. It's her constant nagging
to get me to eat. So what I forget sometimes? I make up for it
later…if I like what's being served. Two lifetimes of this
harassment is unbearable and unfair.

These past few months
have been awful, and I don't know how much more the girls and I can
take. It seems wherever Peter went, there was a limping,
bloody boy left in his wake. If I'm there, I'm usually able to
calm him, to remind him of who he is. I must admit sometimes the boys
deserved his wrath, sometimes they didn't. Either way, Peter was
wrong to react. If they only knew how their lives would be added as
a notch to his belt if we were in Narnia and he had his sword, then
they'd think twice before provoking him.

I know in the heart of
my good and patient brother there is no malice, no darkness where he
would intentionally do harm. It's not in his nature and it hurts
to see him going against it.

That is why I
constantly ask, beg, and plead with Aslan to send us back soon.
Mostly for Peter's sake, because sometimes I feel he will loose his
mind if we don't return quickly. He doesn't know what to do
with himself, none of us do really. We go to school with many of
life's questions answered already, and we just pretend to be a part
of the innocents that surrounds us. Sometimes we slip up with
courtly manners or speech, causing many teachers to raise a curious
brow and then quickly cover our tracts with adolescent antics.

There is no court to
hold, no diplomatic errands to run, no battles to fight to secure our
lands, our home, for our beloved subjects. How do we adjust from
that? We had a schedule we kept for fifteen years, and now…

We live in this
indescribable anguish, and our High King suffers most of all. I need
a drink. Unfortunately here in England I'm much too young for it,
no matter how watered down the wine is.

You know, now that I
think about it, Peter reminds me of a neighbor we use to have a long
time ago. Well, not that long ago. Urgh, I'm still having trouble
distinguishing the two time lines. Not long after they moved onto
our street, I became good friends with Mr. Seal's son Desmond. We
spent a lot of time together at each others houses and of course that
included dinners. He was the answer to every mother's prayer at
dinner time because he ate everything put before him, and
asked for seconds. Me on the other hand, well I won't reflect
anymore on that. Peter reminds me of Desmond's dad when he
suddenly lost his job. He was all right for a while, but as time
past without any luck of finding another, Mr. Seal became distant and
short with his family and friends.

At a tender age Peter
managed to rule a kingdom and somehow become a surrogate father to my
sisters and me. In my opinion he did both admirably well. But I see
without his kingdom to rule Peter is like a father who has lost his
job, and his behavior will likely mirror most jobless men who feel
they have failed their families, which is not the case at all. He
is our restorer, protector, comforter and councilor. He'll soon
have that feeling of employment again I'm sure.

Meanwhile others have
cause to fear or rather to be cautious around him. My brother is in a
league of his own, the bugger.

tbc

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